By the numbers, seven rounds of TIGER funding have funneled over $4.6 billion into 342 individual projects around the country. (Check out Transportation for America’s map to see if there is a TIGER-backed project near you. Spoiler: There probably is.) As StreetsBlog explains, the structuring of these grants streamlined funding procedures, allowing these types of urban projects to flourish: “By working directly with cities and regional agencies, TIGER bypassed state DOTs more interested in big highway projects than enhancing transit, biking, and walking options.”

But this month, the Republican-led Senate Commerce Committee moved to drastically change the program, effectively stripping bike lanes and multimodal projects from future funding rounds in favor of freight rail projects. This prompted a swift and massive letter-writing campaign aimed at urging senators to change course. The plan worked: This week, committee chair John Thune (R-SD) removed that language from the bill.

Now we have to wait to see what happens next, as Streetsblog noted, “[the] bill appears to be on hold for at least another five months after the House passed another short-term extension of the current law.”